Bharat Bandh: Industrial production hit in Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, September 27

At least 25 per cent less production took place in the state’s industrial hub of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) area today as around 50 per cent of the workforce did not turn up from Haryana and Punjab in view of the Bharat Bandh, announced by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM).

Industrial workers commutes from places like Panchkula, Chandigarh and villages in Kalka, Pinjore, Ropar, etc. Since no inter- state buses or other commercial vehicles could ply, production and dispatch of goods was adversely hit.

According to an estimate, about 50,000 industrial workers commute from the neighbouring states to this industrial belt on a daily basis.

The dispatch of industrial goods was also hit as the Nalagarh Truck Operators Union could not send its vehicles to other states. “Trucks returning from various destinations were held up and on an average, movement of about 1,000 vehicles was affected,” Vidya Rattan, union’s president, said.

The impact of the bandh was more pronounced in bigger units, having more workforce. Even senior managers could not attend office today.

Sanjay Khurana, president of BBN Industries Association, said, “Bigger units in the textile and automobile sector suffered as much as 25 per cent loss of productivity today as senior and middle-wrung officials could not reach their workplace from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana.”

Khurana rued that it was unfair of the farmer unions to hold the industry to ransom as Covid had already crippled their productivity since the last year-and-a-half. He urged the government to amicably resolve the issue so that there were no further disruptions to production.

Surinder Kumar, human resource manager of a kitchen appliances manufacturing unit at Baddi, said such unforeseen closures did not augur well for the industry, which was trying to revive and prepare itself for the upcoming festive season. Manufacturing lines also saw a scant workforce turned up for work, he added.